My heart leaps into my throat. Spring break starts tomorrow. It’s just like the administration to surprise us with a drug raid the day before freedom.

Oh, Lalana. No. Nooooooo.

“Off to class you go,” Mr. Dan says, gently but firmly. “You’ve always been such a good student. Wouldn’t want you to get detention for wandering the halls.”

I flush. If he only knew. I try to smile, but the nausea anchors down both sides of my lips. “I don’t feel so well.”

Mr. Dan turns the same shade as the linoleum. “On second thought, let’s go to the nurse’s office.”

He marches me down the corridor, past my locker. Past Lalana’s.

My stomach rolls. There’s nothing I can do now to grab the baggie, to stop the course of events. What’s done is done.

I made a decision. I took an action. And the future will be forever changed because of it.

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

An hour later, the lockdown is finally lifted, and I leave the nurse’s office. Just as I open the door, however, three people cross in front of me: a uniformed police officer with a yellow Labrador on a leash; Ms. Bui, with a perfectly coiffed silver-streaked bun; and Lalana, tears streaking down her face, her eyes darting around as though she’s looking for assistance.

As though she’s looking for me.

I’m the one who always helps her. I’m the person who has her back, forever and always. At least…I used to.

Every cell in my body screams at me to go to her. To take her hand. To make this right.

But I can’t. The lives of millions are at stake.

I back away before she can see me and get outside just in time, scrambling behind a tree and emptying the contents of my stomach into a scratchy bush. The toasted onion and sesame seed bagel is considerably less appetizing on the way up. Oh, man. The excuse I gave Nurse Hoyle is coming true. Funny, so not funny.

What’s happening to Lalana now? Ms. Bui will call her mom, who will call her dad in California. There will be no excuses. No second chances. Lalana will be packed up and shipped to California by the end of spring break.

I did this. Me. With a simple action, I single-handedly ruined my best friend’s high school career. She’ll have to spend the rest of junior year and all of senior year at a new school with people she doesn’t know. Without the friends she’s relied on her entire life.

Because of me.

I gag over the bushes again, but nothing comes out. My hair falls into my face, and impatiently, I shove it back. Magically, the strands stay, as if caught by a barrette—or someone’s hand.